Time-lapse
by Chel 90210
Summary: A look at Klaus and Caroline throughout their life. At age 7, Klaus already knows that he wants to be with Caroline. He just has to make her believe it. A one shot Drabble.


**Time-Lapse**

Age 7:

A small Caroline clutches her knee. She tries to fight back the tears, but the cut on her knee hurts.

"You pushed me!" A single tear falls down her cheek.

"You deserved it! You took my ball!" Tyler accused.

"It was my turn!" Caroline defended herself.

"I don't take turns!" He scowled at her.

Tyler took another step towards her, stomping his tiny feet on the way, but someone else grabbed him.

"Leave her alone!" The stranger said.

"She took my ball!"

"You pushed a girl!" Her hero said. "My momma says you shouldn't hurt a lady. I should tell my mom on you!"

"Don't tell on me!" Tyler's small voice said.

"You better say sorry and never talk to my friend again!"

"I'm sorry!" Tyler cried. The stranger held up his tiny fist in front of him.

"Don't hurt me! I said I was sorry!"

"You better be!" The stranger dropped his fist and Tyler ran away.

"My name is Klaus." The small boy grinned at Caroline. "What's yours?"

"C-ca- Caroline." She said. "Thank you for saving me."

"You're welcome." He said politely.

He extended his hand and helped Caroline onto her feet.

Klaus watched Caroline smooth out her dress and tame her blonde curls.

"That's some pretty hair you got." Klaus told her.

"My momma says it's a mess." She blushed.

"Well your momma is wrong."

Age 13:

"Come on Caroline let me inside!" Klaus banged on the bathroom door.

"You don't understand." She said. "I can't let you see this."

She couldn't understand why she was bleeding.

What did it mean? What would she tell her mom?

"We're the same, Caroline." He rolled his eyes. "I'm sure whatever it is.. It isn't a big deal."

"Klaus please." She begged him. "I just don't want to tell you."

She pinched the bridge of her nose. She absolutely could not leave this room.

"Can you go get Bonnie for me?"

Yes Bonnie. She would know what to do.

"I want to help you." He insisted.

She was getting frustrated. Klaus would not leave it alone.

"Just go away, Klaus!" She screamed at him.

She didn't understand the changes happening in her body.

She was short tempered and Klaus was absolutely on her last nerve.

He just kept insisting and she just wanted to push herself further away.

"Fine!" He told her. "I don't want to be your friend anymore!"

It hurt her to hear the words, but she couldn't ever tell him what was happening to her

Age 16:

"He's staring at you again, Caroline." Bonnie whispered.

"Let him stare." Caroline flipped her hair.

"He's crazy over you." Bonnie told her. "He scares off any guy that even thinks about dating you."

"That's why he's annoying." Caroline said. "He won't let me be."

"Give him a chance!" Bonnie encouraged. "You never know what you'll miss."

Caroline sighed picking up her lunch tray.

She would not ever give into Klaus.

He was like a constant bother in her life.

She hated him.

He hated her.

Why couldn't anyone else see that?

"I'll see ya later, Bonnie."

She dumped her tray in the trash and left the cafeteria.

She could feel his presence behind her as she closed the main doors.

She walked faster in an effort to outrun him, but she knew he wouldn't stop.

She spun around on her heel and pointed her finger directly at his chest.

"Stop interfering with my life." She scowled at him. "You're the reason I had I take someone from another school to prom last year and if I have to do it again.. I swear-"

He wrapped his arms around her body and pressed her against the locker.

His cool breath stopped Caroline from speaking.

"Go with me." He murmured. "I can make you happy."

She placed both of her arms on his shoulders and tried to push him away.

"I will never go anywhere with you!" He stumbled away from her and gave her a serious look.

"Mark my words, Caroline." This time he was the one to point the finger at her. "You will go everywhere with me."

Age 20:

"Please." She begged the stranger. "I don't want this." She attempted to push the drunk off of her, but he wouldn't budge.

Why did she agree to come to this frat house with Katherine?

It was a big mistake.

"Leave her alone, Enzo!" A familiar voice filled the room. She knew that voice from anywhere.

"Klaus?" She called out, but he didn't respond.

Instead he tore the guy off of her and pulled her out of the room.

He still didn't speak as he dragged her into another room.

She assumed that it was his.

Her head was spinning.

Why did he have to be the one to save her?

"You gotta stop that." She told him pressing her fingers to her temples.

He looked at her oddly as he brought two white pills and a glass of water next to the bed.

"Stop what?" He asked.

"Saving me."

Age 24:

"You think it's a good idea?" She asked Klaus.

He continued to look forward as Caroline spoke.

"Klaus?" She called his name again. "Are you even listening to me?"

He shook his head and looked over at her. "What? Yeah, I think it's a good idea."

"So you're okay with it?" She asked slowly.

He wasn't paying attention at all because Klaus would never be okay with it.

"So if I move it with Tyler-"

"You're not moving in with him." He told her.

"I know." She grinned. "I just wanted to see if you were really paying attention."

"That's a cruel joke." He glared at her.

"I broke up with him last night."

"That's even worse than the first one." He told her. "Don't mess around with me." He warned.

"I'm not." She told him honestly.

Age 26:

"Those were my favorite pair of shoes!" She screamed. "I cannot believe you!"

"Caroline." He said trying to calm her down.

She wasn't having it.

"It was your damn idea to have this dog!" She scolded him. "I want him gone!"

She held up her chewed up heel in front of his face.

"That dog is crazy!"

He took the shoe out of her hand and placed in on the table.

"Caroline. It's a shoe." He reasoned with her. "I can replace it."

"You better do more than replace it!" She told him.

He placed his arms on her shoulders and she seemed to relax.

"Why don't we just go to bed?" He suggested. "We can fix all of this tomorrow" He said.

"Will you stay with me again?" She asked.

It was a rare occasion when they shared a bed, but lately Caroline found herself craving more of his presence.

She couldn't explain it, but she was growing even closer to him.

"Are you sure?" He was surprised by her question.

She nodded grabbing him by the hand and leading him down the hallway.

11:47 pm.

Neither one of them could sleep.

Caroline rolled over and was surprised to see Klaus staring right back at her.

"I couldn't sleep." She said.

"Me either."

She reached out and ran her hand down his cheek.

He closed his eyes trying to fight off the urges he managed to suppress for years.

"Caroline." He said her name breathlessly.

She slowly leaned in and placed a kiss on his lips. She lingered there for a minute praying for him to respond, but still he fought himself.

She pulled back and looked at him questioningly. "Klaus?"

"Don't do anything you don't mean." He told her. "I don't think I wouldn't be able to handle it."

Age 30

"Push Caroline!" Klaus brushed back the blonde curls that stuck to her face.

"I can't do it!" She told him. "I can't, I can't, I-"

A loud cry filled the room as the baby was placed in Caroline's arms.

"A boy." The doctor smiled. "Congratulations!"

Klaus could not take his eyes off of the small bundle of joy.

"I told you, love." He said admiringly. "I told you that you could do it." He was truly proud of her.

"What should we name him?" She asked him.

"Nicholas." Klaus said. "Nicholas Mikaelson."

"It perfect." She said "He's perfect, just like his father." She smiled up at him as he leaned in for a kiss.

Age 34:

"KLAUS!" Caroline screamed from the nursery. "She's burning up!"

Caroline carried her two year old daughter into the kitchen.

"I don't know what to do!" She was a mess. "Nick was never this sick, he never..I- I don't know what to do."

He took Caroline in his arms and held her.

"Let's go to the hospital, love." He tried to soothe her. "It'll be okay." He promised.

They rushed to emergency room and met up with Klaus' parents.

They watched Nick as Caroline and Klaus sat with their two year old daughter.

Her eyes were puffy and her small blonde curls were a mess from the sweat.

"It'll be okay, baby." She soothed her daughter, but she was really trying to convince herself.

Klaus wrapped his arms around his wife and held her.

"We're going to get through this."

Age 40:

"Dad come play with us!" Klaus' twelve year old son screamed at him.

"Give me a second, Nick!" Klaus was up in the attic pulling out all of the Christmas decorations.

He groaned, frustrated.

Why did his wife go through such extravagance?

"What's taking so long?" Caroline shouted from down below.

Life seemed to be catching up to him.

He wasn't as young as he used to be and he sure could feel it.

He yanked the tree one more time and finally got it.

He carried it down the steps and his wife was grinning at him.

"Not as young as you used to be?" She said.

"I keep my strength in other areas." He said suggestively. He placed the tree on the hardwood floor and grabbed his wife by the waist.

She squealed as he pushed her against the wall. He kissed down her neck and was about to open her blouse before they were interrupted.

"Mommy what are you doing?" Little Isabella looked up at them with wide eyes.

Caroline quickly fixed herself and grabbed her daughters hand. "Let's go decorate the tree, Izzy."

But before she left the hallway, she looked back at Klaus and smirked.

-  
Age 46:

"Bye dad!" His son waved at him as they walked back to their car. "Bye mom!"

Caroline couldn't look at her son as they sent him off to college.

But for him she gathered the courage and smiled.

"I love you, Nick." She waved as Klaus closed the passenger door.

Klaus joined her in the drivers seat and they both were quiet.

"Klaus.. I don't know if I-"

Klaus took her hands in his. "Love." He soothed her. "He's grown. He's becoming his own person. You know that he will always love you... You just have to let go."

Her eyes glistened as Klaus kissed her on the lips.  
-

Age 52:

"I'm not going, Care!" He was frustrated with his wife.

"Please, Klaus." She was worried for her husband. "You have to go."

"I'm fine." He assured her. "There's nothing wrong with me!"

"Will you go just for me?" She begged him. "Please?"

He sighed giving into his wife's request.

Klaus feared the doctors office. He hated the fact that this was something he needed it get done.

His doctor said it was routine, but he knew better.

He was just stubborn, not willing to listen to anyone else, but the fear in his wife's eyes made him go.

The test was finished and the wait began.

A couple of days went by before they received a call back.

Caroline sat with Klaus in the office holding tightly onto his hand.

"I love you." She told him placing a kiss on his cheek.

"Not as much as I love you." It was what he said every time.

The doctor came in and said the one word they didn't want to hear.

Cancer.

Age 56:

Isabella held onto her fathers hand as they waited for the wedding march to play.

"I love you, daddy." She told him as she rubbed his bald head.

He smiled at her proudly thanking god that he lived long enough to see this day.

He was weak, but was growing stronger everyday.

"You look beautiful, Izzy." He kissed her on the cheek.

And she did look beautiful in her white gown.

His baby girl was finally getting married.

Age 62:

"She beautiful" Caroline gushed as she gazed upon her first grandchild.

Nicholas smiled widely as his proud parents held his daughter.

"Good job, son." His father grasped his shoulder proudly looking at his son.

His strength was back and you would have never been able to tell that he had cancer.

"She's so beautiful." Caroline told Nicholas' wife.

She was thankful for her family and was already eager to nag her daughter for her first child.

Age 70:

"How many trips are you and dad going to go on mom?" Her daughter was upset with her.

"As many as we'd like." She scolded her daughter. "And when you get as old as I do, you can enjoy the same luxury."

"I'm just worried about you mom. Are you taking your medication?"

Caroline scowled at her daughter.

"Of course I am!" She said. "I don't forget anything. My memory is as sharp as a knife!"

Her daughter laughed with her as they laughed at her joke.

Age 75:

"It's the third heart attack she's had this year." The doctor explained to her son Nicholas.

"It's not safe for her to stay at home anymore."

Klaus held onto his wife's hand as he watched her lay in the hospital bed.

He hadn't been separated from his wife for 50 years. He wasn't about to let go of her now.

"I go where she goes." He told the doctor.

-  
Age 82:

"I don't know you." Caroline did not recognize the stranger that was in her room.

Klaus' heart hurt. It was heavy with grief as his wife looked at him as if he was a stranger.

"Caroline." His voice pleaded with her to remember, but on most days she didn't.

He reached for her and she pulled back. "Go away." She told him.

He reluctantly sat down praying his wife would remember him.

-  
Age 89:

"Klaus." She was calling his name in her sleep.

He yearned for her to say his name.

It was the first time he had heard it fall from her lips in two years.

He pulled his weak body out of bed and shuffled over towards her.

"Klaus." She called out again.

He didn't wait for her to forget.

He crawled into bed with her and held her one last time.

The end.


End file.
